the president in addressing a deficit added $1.6 trillion in new spending. gregg: yeah. >> so who are we joking right now? the president has never taken the spending side of this equation seriously, which is why we don't have a deal. republicans have put their necks on the line supporting new revenues, the president's not coming through. gregg: senator barrasso said the president does want to go over the cliff, because he wants to punish republicans. is there something to that? >> i don't think there's anything to that, but the reality is that if he wants to get anything done, he has two options. he either breaks the republicans on taxes, or he breaks the republicans. i read that somewhere, and i thought it was a fantastic quote. but i do think that he is going -- i don't think any of us want to see the country go off the cliff. gregg: maybe he just didn't think $16 trillion in debt is a big deal, basil? >> i think he thinks it's a big deal if we go off this cliff. we're talking about two million folks that will not get unemployment anymore, i don't think an